nominee. u.s. economics editor for "the economist," and senior economics reporter steve leaseman. steve, first to you. what are the markets saying? what is jack lew's reputation in wall street and what do you see coming forward with debt negotiations? >> i think this appointment is being taken advisedly in the sense that it's a kind of wait and see. you know, from my perspective, having covered more or less -- more or less degrees, seven of the past treasury secretaries, jack lew does come to the table with a bio that perhaps has less independence in it than any treasury secretary i can remember. robert rubin, hailing from goldman sachs, salary summers was a renowned economist. paul o'neil from alcoa. there's nothing on lew's resume that suggests any measure of independence. markets want a little bit of independence from their treasury secretary. that said, if jack lew's appointment can, in fact, result in some kind of longer term budget deal affixed to entitlements, tax reform, corporate and individual that i think markets would be happy to give up that independence. the troubling is i

steve as well about your deep knowledge of afghanistan and pakistan and the other bordering states. >> this is one that has taken a back burner. we are not that far removed from the election. the election was about by and large nothing more than the economy and which side could do it better. as a result almost every other issue gets pushed to the side, but we have, you know -- there are realtime tables in place in afghanistan about what we have pledged to do, what we will do. you talk about chuck hagel. what chuck hagel's role in all of that, if et wants to be secretary of defense. it's a complicated issue, and it's more complicated politically, andrea, simply because the american public -- this happened in iraq. it's clearly happening in afghanistan. the american public has tired of our involvement in these conflicts. this is not something new. this is something that has been long and coming. if you look at the history in polling at least of when that happens, public opinion almost never sort of sways back up to all of a sudden be supportive and think this was a battle worth fight

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